Turkish Çay

Does anyone know much about this kind of tea? I don't think I've seen
it discussed here, but I've heard it described as being a good kind of
tea. I have heard that it is grown in Turkey, and I heard a few
positive things about the taste, but I don't this kind of tea is rarely
mentioned anywhere with the exception of maybe two books that didn't
say much on it. If you've had it, where do you find this tea, and how
was it?

Well, I went out and found some real caykur rize at a local mid-eastern
market. The price was awesome, penny per gram, 27 cents an ounce. Not
the strongest smell, but it made a reasonable black tea. I was
surprised to see how small the leaf was. Does anyone know if caykur is
ground up? I also noticed that the caykur stained my teacup quite a bit
more than most teas do, has anyone else noticed this? The flavor was
lacking the earthy taste of assam blacks, but it didn't have any
bitterness at all. Overall, a decent sort of tea, I will drink it in
large quantities when I don't care about taste, and serve it to
non-discriminating friends.

I remember buying this tea once in a Russian store in Brighton Beach
(New York). It was about as cheap as you describe -- under $2 for a
whole huge bag. I think this tea must be cut. The leaves were not
intact at all. And yes, I too was surprised by how much it stained my
cups! Would love to try some higher grade Turkish teas.

By the way, does anyone know where one can get some Georgian tea
(Georgia, the country, not the US state)? Georgia is not too far from
Turkey, so the profile of the tea might be similar.

TeaDave wrote:
> Well, I went out and found some real caykur rize at a local mid-eastern
> market. The price was awesome, penny per gram, 27 cents an ounce. Not
> the strongest smell, but it made a reasonable black tea. I was
> surprised to see how small the leaf was. Does anyone know if caykur is
> ground up? I also noticed that the caykur stained my teacup quite a bit
> more than most teas do, has anyone else noticed this? The flavor was
> lacking the earthy taste of assam blacks, but it didn't have any
> bitterness at all. Overall, a decent sort of tea, I will drink it in
> large quantities when I don't care about taste, and serve it to
> non-discriminating friends.

I use a drip coffee maker to make a daily pot of CAYKUR, because the
filter catches all the small pieces of this " cut-tear -crumble "type
tea. I drink it all day on my days off. I drink chinese reds after
work as atreat.

tom

> The lack of tannin
> makes it interesting as a drink by itself and makes it a good choice for
> iced tea, but for the most part the stuff I have tried does not seem
> terribly aromatic. Then again, for what it costs, you can afford to try
> several kinds and see if you like the nose on them yourself. --scott

I don't know any Turk who drinks his tea without sugar. I suppose the
aroma comes partly from the tea and partly from the sweetener. Splendid
drink

JB